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Thursday, June 23, 2016

Bottle Blonde by Lyka Bloom

While not one of her best tales, Bottle Blonde was still a fun tale, with Lyka Bloom putting a transgender twist on the old genie in the lamp.

What you have here is the standard cautionary tale of being careful what you wish for. Genies are clever, capricious beings, and they are always looking to twist our words around in an effort to set themselves free. It might seem like a safe wish to become the kind of person your crush could love, but if she turns out to be a lesbian . . . well, things can get complicated. Similarly, wishing for the confidence to enjoy your new body seems like a smart move, but . . . well, you get the idea.

The first wish is the best part of the story, as Brian and his genie get to know one another, and they set the ground rules for wishing. There is a lot of detail here that brings the story to life, but the potential romance is sets up is something we never get to explore. The second wish is a hot and quick one, exploring that question of confidence, but it really did leave me wishing (no pun intended) for a continuation of the first. The final wish, however, wraps things up nicely, ending on quite an emotional jolt.

As a final note, it may be a formatting issue, or it may be a matter of misplaced preview text, but the opening of the story is rather confusing. My advice is to read the Prologue, skip over the Third Wish section that immediately follows, and go right to the First Wish.

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